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Telecom Carriers Use Deceptive Advertising
theodp writes "Regulatory Programs Fee. It sure sounds like a government tax. It isn't. The latest addition to T-Mobile's monthly bill is merely the latest example of telephone companies passing their own cost of doing business to customers with an array of surcharges that one might easily mistake for taxes being collected on behalf of the government. With millions of subscribers at each company, these less-than-forthright fees add billions of dollars per year in extra revenue without raising advertised rates."
Yeah, but Prussia doesn't exist anymore. Coincedence? I think not.
I would encourage a class action lawsuit, but then l would probably just see this on my bill next month-
Regulatory Consumer Disloyalty Juris Prudence Fee - $14.86
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It's called....
:).
Drums roll!!!!!!!
Quarters!!!!!, public phones are vailable everywhere.
Stop being a snob.
Save yourself to get beaten to death when your cell phones rings in public events restaurants,movies,concerts you name it.
Prove your geekiness making free phone calls from your public phone, still possible
and you have to stop your car to make/attend a phone call so what are you waiting for?
I wouldn't call 'up my ass' a better place, necessarily. I'm sure that's where she'd tell me to put my number.
Let's see. If I write more than 5 checks a month, it costs me $5 per. I can pass that on to them. Oh, and don't forget the cost of the stamp. How about all the taxes I pay as a result of me making a living? Gas tax, income tax, sales tax, Social security ... I'll just deduct all that from my payment ...
What? Didn't anyone at the company notice the EULA they accepted by accepting my payment? I included it in the envelope and they accepted it by cashing the check.
If the government mandates things like number portability and location, this makes a change to the company's bottom line. I don't see how this is different than a tax really.
It's a tax on people who patronize businesses who built crappy enough infrastructure or business models that number portability was a problem.
In the same way, of course, that a lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math.
Tweet, tweet.
water has been found to be wet.
I remember a Dilbert book that called these things "Confusopolys" - where the only way they make money is confusing the customer so much they pay for unnecesary stuff.
Scott Addams described it far better than I could. Anyone remember which dilber book this was?
You left out:
13. Spam continues
14. Microsoft is evil
15. Check out this cool XBox mod that turns it into a toaster!
16. New worm exploits Microsoft vulnerability
Axis powers surrender to the Allies.
Water found to be wet.
Dewey beats Truman.
17. People on /. sometimes make lists that are then appended by others.
/. can't count straight.
18. The other people then try to be funny in their extensions
15. Check out this cool toaster mod that turns it into an XBox!
21. People on
I used to run a small business. I remember one bizarre conversation that I had with my accountant at our first tax time...
ME: So we don't have to pay a tax on that then?
ACCOUNTANT: Right.
ME: So what's this big fee, payable to the government, that you have calculated?
ACCOUNTANT: That's not a tax. That's a levy.
Oh, it's not a tax, it's a LEVY! I feel so much better... Let me sign the check.
[Your blood pressure just went up.]
I assume I'm not the only one that visited the original article site and was presented with a pop-up ad for NextTel when they left :)
Expect NexTel to be adding two more "taxes":
1. Coercion Misdirection Levy - for ads served to people after reading an article explaining how the company jacks up profits under the guise of "taxation".
2. Geographic Locale Fee - for ads served to people they can't service (I'm in Australia).
Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button